US-headquartered genetic testing kit provider 23andme, which counts corporates Alphabet, WuXi AppTec, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Roche and Illumina as investors, has secured $82.5m in funding, according to a regulatory filing.
The funding represents a series F round co-led by venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and NewView Capital, company spokesperson Andy Kill told the Wall Street Journal.
Customers take samples of their DNA using 23andme’s kits and send them back in order to get results about their ancestry and genetic health profile.
Although it has expanded into using its research for drug development activities, the company reduced its workforce by approximately 14% earlier this year as demand for its core service fell. Kill said the series F cash will be used for general corporate purposes.
The round took 23andme’s total funding to more than $873m since it was founded in 2006, GSK having supplied $300m of the capital in mid-2018.
Sequoia Capital led a $250m round for the company the previous year, participating alongside financial services and investment group Fidelity, Euclidean Capital, Wallenberg Foundation, Altimeter Capital and Casdin Capital at a $1.75bn post-money valuation.
Fidelity had led a $115m series E round for 23andme in 2015 that included GV and WuXi Healthcare Ventures – subsidiaries of internet technology group Alphabet and pharmaceutical firm WuXiAppTec – genomics technology provider Illumina, Casdin Capital, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), MPM Capital and Xfund.
The company had previously secured $57.9m in series D funding from GV, MPM Capital, NEA, 23andme founder Anne Wojcicki and Sergey Brin in 2012.
The series C came the year after 23andme closed a $31m series C round featuring pharmaceutical firm Roche’s Venture Fund, GV, corporate venturing unit Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation – JJDC, MPM Capital and NEA. Its earlier funding came from GV, biotech researcher Genentech, NEA and MDV-Mohr Davidow Ventures.
